360renos - Home Improvement & Decor

How to make your home stand out when selling

We can help your house sell quickly and at a good price -- even in a slow market.

It takes a lot more than sparkling windows, scented candles and chocolate-chip cookies to sell a home in today's market.

Improvements should be made so that the property shows well, is consistent with the neighborhood and does not involve capital investments.

Beyond any doubt, the best investment you can make is new paint. Painting can make a room or an exterior façade look brand-new, and totally transform the look and feel of a room or the entire residence. It is always wise to be somewhat restrained when choosing colors for a home-staging paint project. Avoid choosing colors that are too individual or flashy and favor neutral colors and schemes. This does not mean painting everything white, however.

Use subtle color schemes to accentuate the home's strengths and minimize weaknesses. Dark colors, for example, tend to make a room feel smaller, while lighter colors and pastels can make a room feel bigger.

There is another benefit to painting as well: the process of preparing the interior or exterior surfaces of a home for painting automatically allows us to go over the entire area receiving paint in great detail, and this can often expose items or areas requiring repair. It seems you always discover where the caulking has let go, where the wall is dinged.

It is always preferable that we discover and deal with these items before the real estate agent (or worse, the prospective buyer) points them out to you!

Dave - 360renos




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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Crown and Baseboards

I've been so pleased with the materials from Classic Wood Mouldings here in Ottawa.

They offer fabulous moulding made in pine that show off the great lines and detail. Much better than MDF because the lines are sharp and crisp where MDF tends to have softer lines.



This home in Kanata had new crown moulding and baseboards installed in the Dining room and Living Room


Crown continues to grow in popularity. For an 8' ceiling use a 4 1/2" and for a 9' ceiling use a 5 1/2" crown.

The crown and baseboards were completed in a soft C2 Cotton semi- gloss paint. the walls were finished in C2 Sandstone.

Dave - 360renos

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Cost Effective Home Renovating

When you buy a home, somewhere along the line you will be faced with the prospect of doing some home renovations. The good news however is, there are many ways accomplishing cost effective home renovations.

All you actually need to do is sit down, take a deep breath and begin to make a list of all the renovations you feel your home may need. At first, do not worry about putting a cost to these renovations, but rather make an accurate and detailed list of everything which you feel may be in need of renovation.

Once you have completed the list, try to prioritise it according to which of these renovations you feel are the most necessary taking into consideration the impact each of these renovations may have on the lifestyle of the homes occupants and on the look of the home as well.

When you look at this list and should you have been honest with yourself, you will soon realise that the renovations which are likely to have the most impact on the appearance of the home and more likely the comfort of its inhabitants are likely to be the more affordable and achievable ones.

Things such as a fresh coat of paint, cupboard renovations and even faucet and fitting renovations or replacements are guaranteed to have a great effect. These in reality are some of the smaller renovations which you may have chosen, but they truly have a great impact not only on living conditions but the value of the home as well.

More often than not one tends to want to tackle all of the renovations you wish done at once, but by breaking it down into a list and prioritising it, you are able to gain perspective and see that it is all possible should you just gain perspective.

By handling the tasks one by one you reduce the initial cost shock and once you see the difference the smaller changes you make have made you will be more willing and able to take on the bigger ones.

Ezine Articles

Dave - 360renos

Friday, December 18, 2009

Stittsville Project




Always fun painting and laying out a young sports fan room









Entire first and second floor painting of all walls, baseboards, door and window trim. Walls completed in 'Straw Hat'








Walls completed in 'Caramel Apple' that work fabulously with the cabinets and counter








Great focal point of the family room with the awesome stone fireplace. Benjamin Moore color called 'Caramel Apple' compliments the furniture and fireplace nicely.













Dave - 360renos

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Color Your Kitchen

There are no rules when it comes to making your color choice for Kitchens. Popular colors which are known to create a cheery atmosphere or increase appetite incude sunny yellow, peach, terra cotta or citrus lime green.

Paint is the least expensive way of making a change and increasing your homes value. It's not just your walls you can spruce up with paint, but why not freshen up your cabinetry with a new coat of melamine paint. Update your fixtures and voila, a whole new look to your existing Kitchen.

Other projects you may wish to take on are ceilings, back splash, range hoods or even giving your old out of date table a fresh look with a coat of paint. when painting these features it is important to use paint which has superior adhesion properties.

Dave - 360renos



Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Magnetic Paint

I love it - Magnetic Paint. Actually it is simply paint with iron particles in it. So what? Paint it on any surface, drywall, bed boards, dressers and then paint over it with any paint you want. Now all the fridge magnets will stick, and not just to a metal fridge. Actually if you put on two coats it will hold the magnets better. (Remember to stir it well to get those metal particles evenly distributed!)

I think kids will love this, and if you want them to practice creative writing, just buy them those magnetic phrase builder kits. This paint is not cheap, but you don't need a lot of it.

You can find it at Lee Valley

Dave - 360renos